Hopeful Hearts Are Moving Targets
by coldqueen
Summary: He told her a lovely story, but Caroline was no one's fool. She knew a half-truth when it was told to her.


**Title: **Hopeful Hearts Are Moving Targets (I Don't Know How I Survive)

**Genre: **Television

**Series: **The Vampire Diaries

**Characters:** Caroline Forbes, Niklaus Mikaelson

**Spoilers: **_4x07 - "My Brother's Keeper"_

**Rating: **PG-13

**Summary: **He told her a lovely story, but Caroline was no one's fool. She knew a half-truth when it was told to her.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

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"_Climbing a mountain in the Andes, I'd come across a hummingbird, it's heart was pattering like a machine gun and I thought: What a thing! To have to work that hard every day to stay alive, to be constantly on the verge of death. And how satisfying every day must be that it survived. And that was the only time I thought about being human."_

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The sun had long since set by the time Caroline left the Lockwood mansion, hired help and hybrids finishing up the cleaning she'd lost the patience to supervise. Even in four inch heels she could have run home faster than being driven but when Klaus had placed his hand on her lower back and directed her to the passenger seat of his car she hadn't had the energy to fight with him over it. In hindsight it seemed like she'd been arguing with everyone today; from Stefan over his giving up on Elena, to Elena and her insane attraction to Damon, and even to Tyler, who hated that she was there with Klaus but was the one who put her in that position. Caroline was trying not to be resentful, but just because they were playing this game didn't mean he had to shove his _faux_ relationship in her face. There was only so much pretending that she could do before her mask would start to crack.

Klaus stopped his car in front of her house and Caroline reached for the door handle immediately, flashing a tight smile at her 'date' as her only concession to a good night.

"I do believe it's traditional for me to walk you to the door, sweetheart," Klaus announced. He used his vampire speed to exit the car and be at her side in just a blink and Caroline fought the urge to glare at him as he opened the door for her, holding out his hand to assist her from the low-riding vehicle. She took it, because she was trying to be a lady and he'd been a complete gentleman all night and if he'd been anyone other than Klaus she'd have taken advantage of the fact that her mother wasn't home and indulged in some carnal relaxation exercises. It was her favorite ending to successful dates and despite everything, this couldn't really be called anything but a success. Klaus had been courteous and sweet, alternately entertained and comforted her throughout the stressful event, and the connection she'd always tried to deny between them had been in full evidence through the afternoon. Being forced to acknowledge that only made her angrier, however.

"You don't have to do that, I'm perfectly capable of walking twenty feet to my door, by myself," Caroline asserted, yanking her hand back when his fingers lingered.

"And yet, we are walking there together," he replied with a smug smirk. Their arms brushed as she stepped past but she'd only taken a few steps before turn her head towards him.

"I don't get you."

"What's to get, love?"

"You've been everything I could've wanted today. You were nice and sweet and you took care of me even when I didn't know I needed it. You were a version of yourself that I could reasonably tolerate, that I could imagine seeing again. You weren't yourself in any way."

"And just how do you know who I am, Caroline? You've never given me a chance, never gotten to know me."

"I know enough to recognize when you're not telling the whole truth. When you're only saying something to manipulate a response, the response that you want."

"And just when did I do that?"

"When you told me the story of the hummingbird, you held something back. I could see it in the way you smiled, but your lips pressed together too tightly. If there is one thing that I cannot stand it's people who lie by omission," Caroline vowed, hands on her hips as she faced off with the most dangerous man in the world, a fact that she was reminding herself of even as she said things to him that would get anyone else killed. "So what really happened?"

"And we were having such a lovely time."

"Remember when I said you don't try to understand people? This is me trying to understand you."

They stood under the porch light for several minutes without speaking. She studied his face, watching for any sign that she'd pushed him too far with her inquisitiveness, but he seemed too caught up in his own thoughts to lash out. Finally Klaus slipped his hands into his pockets and tilted his head pensively, leaned back against the wooden pillar and began to speak. "I'd only been a vampire for a hundred years when I reached South America. I'd left my siblings behind with a Toltec tribe, Rebekah and Kol were both very fond of their blood sacrifices."

"And Elijah?"

"Liked their architecture," Klaus supplied, smiling slightly to himself. "I was too restless to stay in one place. Even with the curse inhibiting my werewolf side, the moon was an itch under my skin. I had to move, had to run, to climb. I wanted to be at the top of the world looking down. I left my family behind and aimed for the mountains in the distance. That's how I found myself in the clearing that day, the hummingbird vibrating in the air inches from my face. I'd never seen anything like it. It's wings moved so fast that I could only just barely see their movement even with enhanced vision. It was like a drop of vitality given physical form." He hesitated, focusing his eyes on her face and pursing his lips as if having unpleasant thoughts. "I remember capturing birds as pets for Rebekah and Henrik when we were human. It was easy. You just had to be careful of the wings, they're very fragile, the bones are so thin and brittle."

"And?"

"And I did not know my strength then as well as I do now."

"Oh," was her only response, her heart aching as the visual of him on that day came to mind. She imagined him on a windy plateau, hair longer, clothes old-fashioned, his face remote and cold, his eyes warm with the passion and anger she'd grown used to seeing there.

"It's the only death that I have ever caused and regretted."

She could see that, in her mind's eye; the broken form of the bird looking impossibly small in his hands, his lips curving downward as he surveyed the damage, the light in his eyes dimming imperceptibly.

Caroline swallowed heavily before speaking. "Thank you for telling me."

"I didn't want to remind you of that side of me today," Klaus explained, forcing a casual look across his face. "I didn't want you drawing unpleasant comparisons."

She opened the door behind her, hovering in the doorway, debating the words she wanted to say. "I don't like you more for telling me." She waited until Klaus looked her in the eyes before continuing. "But I also don't like you less."

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